Good Soil

Introduction

Kindergarten science project

Planting a bean in a ziplock with a wet paper towel, it begins to grow roots after a few days, and after a few weeks we saw a plant begin to grow

Teacher gave us the plants to take home, and said that if we wanted the plant to keep growing we would need to plant it in soil

Good soil: ready for a seed to be planted - full of nutrients, not too hard, not too dry

Examples of bad soil: rocks, packed too tight, too dry, too wet, or not prepared by a gardener (i.e., land that hasn’t been cleared yet)

Jesus uses the example of planting seeds in talking about how different people respond to the gospel.

MAIN IDEA: Soft hearts that accept the gospel message will produce fruit for God’s Kingdom.

FCF: We harden our hearts against God and His forgiveness because we are too worried, too distracted, or too in love with other things.

Think about everything you would rather do than read your Bible, pray, or tell other people about Jesus.

Think about all the other places you’d like to be rather than right here, right now studying God’s Word with God’s people

That may be what’s hardening your heart…

BUT, we have a God who softens hard hearts! So, lets look to the text together, and I’d like us all to stand for the reading of God’s Word:

*Read Mark 4:1-12*

In this passage, we see that Jesus teaches in a Parable.

Parable: “Stories carefully designed as metaphors [define]” (30 Days to the Parables)

Said differently, these are stories using earthly descriptions and examples to tell us spiritual realities.

*Reason for the parables: to reveal who real believers are

Isa. 6 quotation: the message was preached but not all believed. People still didn’t listen… but those who believed understood what was being taught to them.

This parable is often called the Parable of the Sower, but a lot of Bible scholars say a better name for it is the Parable of the Soils.

Fortunately for us, Jesus explains the meaning of this parable in v. 13-20 [and a quick side note, don’t you love a teacher who explains what they teach?? Isn’t that a mark of a great teacher?!] And in His explanation, Jesus tells us that each of the different soils represent how people will respond to hearing the gospel for any number of reasons. One thing I think Mark is doing in writing this down is challenging us who read it to consider which soil we may be… and that is my challenge for you as we look at each example.

1. Hard hearts don’t produce fruit (v. 4, 14-15).

This first example are people who simple do not believe. When they hear the gospel, they reject it.

Maybe said a little differently, they place their faith other things. No matter how hard people may argue against it, we all have our faith in something.

2 Corinthians 4:4 CSB

In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan, the deceiver is the one at work here. And I heard this quote one time that I think is so true: Satan’s work in blinding people is not taking their eyes off of Jesus and placing them on himself, but instead he tries to take our eyes off of Jesus and place them on anything else.

Examples: other religions/works based righteousness, atheists who believe in “science”

2. Shallow hearts don’t produce fruit (v. 5-6, 16-17).

The second example is what we might call a shallow faith.

People who maybe understand what the message is, but it’s truth has not changed them. This message of salvation may seem exciting at first, but when the rubber meets the road, when hardships come, it turns out to not be real at all.

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a [cliff]. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?” - C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

3. Distracted hearts don’t produce fruit (v. 7, 18-19)

The third soil describes those who are distracted…

Look at how these distractions are described: thorns that choke out the gospel.

Crowd, or to strangle completely

We are living currently in a distracted age - “The Buffered Self”

I’m not going to bash social media and smartphones… but consider the amount of your day that is consumed by a screen. *My screen time drop off stats*

But that’s not our only distraction! Think about all of the other things in your life that are choking out the time you could spend with the Lord!! Sports, gymnastics, work, dance, video games, music, partying, or relationships that lead you away from the Lord!

Some of these are good things, but if we claim the name of Christ, every good thing in our life fall underneath His authority. Every time that we say yes to one thing, we must say no to another. Are you saying yes to things, giving yourself to things that are choking out your faith in Jesus?

4. Hearts softened to the gospel will produce fruit (v. 8, 20).

Those who hear, believe, and produce fruit are the final, good soil that Jesus describes.

A lot of Bible scholars point out that everything in this story is perfectly in-line with the agricultural practices of this time period except for this final illustration that Jesus uses.

Typically, a seed would produce anywhere from 7-10 heads of grain. But look at the numbers here: 30, 60, 100 times over is the fruit of this seed in good soil.

Ephesians 3:20–21 CSB

Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Importantly, we should notice who it is who causes the fruit to grow. It’s not by our effort or by what we do, but it comes from the One who is working in us. In John’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us this:

John 15:4–5 CSB

Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

And what fruit am I talking about? The Fruit of the Spirit!

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

We will not just possess these things, but we will abound in these things by Jesus’ power in us. For those of us who have believed in Jesus, this is what has happened and what we should expect to see.

Now before we conclude, let’s look at an example of what good soil looks like. Turn with me to Mark 5:21-43.

READ Mark 5:21-45

There’s several more sermons in these verses but here’s just a few things to note from this story:

It was the problems of Jairus and the bleeding woman that drove them to Jesus, not away from Him.

Their circumstances, experiences, and uncertainties did not deter them from Jesus. The trials, pain, distractions, and insults from others did not keep them from looking to Jesus in their time of need.

Both Jairus and the bleeding woman throw themselves at the feet of Jesus in fear and desperation.

Christians do not approach Jesus casually. A soft heart that is receptive to the gospel must recognize His holiness and power in the face of our sin and weakness.

That is part of the gospel: to accept the gift you have to acknowledge certain things about yourself.

Christmas gift illustration.

Jesus is in control and working in the entire situation.

He pauses in the middle of going to see the dying girl to heal the bleeding woman. All of the healing, all of the power for restoration here begins and ends with Jesus. No one is healed here because of what they do, but they are healed because they trust in the One who can do far greater than we could hope or imagine.

Close

So then, which of these soils best describes your own response to the gospel?

Have you hardened your heart so not to let in the transformation of the gospel change you?

Do your understanding of the gospel shallow and only head knowledge? Does it not offer you hope in the midst of hardships?

Is your heart distracted? Given to other things? Are you giving yourself to things that will not lead to the life that we can have in Jesus?

Or are you bearing fruit? Are you like Jairus and the bleeding woman who recognize their need and rely wholly on Jesus?

The gospel is this: we are in need of a Savior, and Jesus died for our sins to be that Savior. Will you let this message transform you heart?